Gabriel Faure (1845-1924) was one of the most important composers in the music history of France from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Faure's output in piano music was abundant, including Nocturnes, Barcarolles, Preludes, and Impromptus. His piano works were rarely performed outside France compared to the works of the two French impressionist composers, Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy. The reason why Faure received relatively less international attention mainly because he was only active on the musical stage of France and could be regarded as the representative of the French music of the epoque. In his musical career from 1875 to 1921, Faure composed thirteen nocturnes among which the Nocturne No. 13 was his last piano work. His creation of nocturnes can be divided into three stages according to their time of production and his composing style. Faure's nocturnes in the first stage bore the influences of his predecessors such as John Field and Frederic Chopin. The second stage exhibited the composer's attempt at innovation. The nocturnes in the third stage were marked in style by a shift from exquisiteness to simplicity. Besides these significant differences, the three stages demonstrated Faure's specific techniques, such as the merging of church modes in the tonality of works and inserting rests on downbeat. This thesis includes three parts and begins with the introduction on Faure¡¦s life and on the origin, definition and development of nocturnes. The second part of the thesis elaborates on each of Faure's thirteen nocturnes in respect to their music periods, background and composing techniques. The discussion on the interpretation and techniques required in the performance of Faure's nocturnes will be the conclusion of the thesis.

John Field (1782-1837), an Irishman, was the first composer to use the French term "nocturne," and was the inventor of the nocturne for piano. It can be seen with a glance at the scores that the orchestral notturni by the eighteenth century composers were very different than what is generally thought of today as a nocturne. Field introduced the idea of the nocturne that has remained much the same since. Frederic Chopin enlarged and improved the genre invented by Field, but it was Field's originality that brought this type of piece to piano literature. Indeed, John Field is hardly remembered today except as the inventor of the nocturne for the piano and for his influence on Chopin's Nocturnes. For that alone musicians will remain indebted to him.

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This thesis explores the eleven solo piano nocturnes by living American composer Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961), to serve as a performer's guide. Characteristics of previous nocturnes provide historical context for Liebermann's pieces, illustrating similarities to the style developed by John Field, Frédéric Chopin, and Gabriel Fauré. Other musical influences on Liebermann, such as Ludwig van Beethoven and Ferruccio Busoni, demonstrate his relationship to the Western art music tradition and placement within the canon. Four distinct facets of Liebermann's musical style are presented: his reliance on traditional formal practices, motivic coherence, his particular harmonic vocabulary, and his use of texture. Liebermann's works use consonant triads, third relations, and smooth voice leading; because of these features, Neo-Riemannian models are suggested as a potential lens through which to view and analyze these pieces. In particular, hexatonic systems and their depiction of the musically "uncanny" relate to how Liebermann's music can have a sort of "defamiliarizing" and destabilizing effect on the listener. The salient musical features of motivic coherence, harmonic relationships, and formal innovations within tradition are presented for each nocturne alongside descriptions of musical character, to capture the essence and spirit contained within the works. The pieces verge on the fantastic and the rhapsodic, demonstrating Liebermann's imaginative approach to tradition. By utilizing a harmonic language that both synthesizes gestures of the past with a rich history of suggestive emotional content, and that innovates with a more modern and dissonant sensibility, Lowell Liebermann has achieved a distinctive musical vocabulary that captures the poetic and dark essence of nocturnes.

Thèse doctorat : Sciences du Vivant. Physiologie et Biologie des Organismes-Populations-Interactions : Strasbourg 1 : 2006. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. 13 p.

For more than three centuries, violin pedagogical practices have been extensively developed towards music covering the common practice period. However, a problem arises when a violin student performing avant-garde music needs to find realistic solutions to problems that are not addressed in the standard repertoire. This critical essay offers a pedagogical approach to a work that fits well within this paradigm: Four Nocturnes (Night Music II), George Crumb’s only published work for violin and piano duo. The multi-dimensional aspect of this avant-garde work requires an equally multi-faceted approach to overcoming the inherent technical hurdles. Through practical illustrations and concise explanations, musical examples indicate how the score may be re-notated and simplified to create a preliminary step towards advancing to the original notation. Borrowing from the methodology of Otakar Ševčík and other leading twentieth-century violin pedagogues, the author shows how students can modify their approach to fit contextually in the realm of avant-garde music. Students who approach the work with this methodology will find it helpful in eliminating many of the potential pitfalls that they are likely to encounter.

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Chopin’s artistic philosophies were heavily indebted to his love of vocal music and his staunch belief that vocal expression represented the supreme essence of musical declamation. To his contemporaries in the Parisian salons, his veneration of the vocal ideal illuminated the expressive significance of Chopin’s musical language. Influenced by the dramatic function of operatic and vocal works, and by interpretive trends that associated literary programs with instrumental (textless) music, Chopin’s contemporaries searched for concealed narratives within his piano nocturnes. This thesis considers the narrative function of Chopin’s late nocturnes within the sociopolitical and musical culture of the Parisian salons, and utilizes a modern approach to narratology that resonates with a prominent facet of historical interpretation. The study reveals a specific reception in which audiences, influenced by the philosophies of Polish messianism, heard national narratives, sung pronouncements of his Polish nationality, and political support for the Polish nation in Chopin’s nocturnes. / Graduate

The romantic piano literature contains three important collections of nocturnes. The nocturnes of John Field (1782-1837) were the first to appear, and were followed by collections from Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) and Gabriel Faure (1845-1924). While the relationship of the nocturnes of Field to those of Chopin is well documented, the corresponding relationship between Faure and Chopin is not. This study contains a detailed examination of this relationship, and shows the precise nature of Chopin's strong influence on Faure's early nocturnes, as well as the nature of Faure's growth from that influence. Chopin's influence was strongest in the area of harmonic language, as Faure carried certain of Chopin's techniques to logical extremes. Faure also adopted ternary form as the important form for the piece from Chopin. Faure's use of this form shows both similarities and differences from that found in Chopin. Faure's early nocturnes employ the same basic textures as Chopin's nocturnes, but Faure's later works abandon this in favor of increasingly contrapuntal writing. Chopin's influence is weakest in the area of melodic construction, as Faure's melodies often show a rigorous motivic construction which is not found in Chopin.